Winter is DEAD. The end of Fractale marks the end of every Winter show I’ve been covering and the start of the Spring season (aside from Madoka, but don’t bring that up, lest I fall into a deep depression). I was skeptical before, but now I’m almost bouncing in my chair thinking of the awesome shows I get to watch and write about. I was pretty harsh on Fractale last week, so let’s end this one on a slightly higher note, shall we?

I don’t know about you, but I love it when an episode launches headfirst into near-nonsensical dialogue with complex explanations about God. Yep, nothing hits the spot quite like it…From what I could make out, it all started with some ordinary girl they found who they decided to try to make into a key for the Fractale system. They came to the conclusion (after vigorous experimentation) that splitting her into a body and soul worked best…That is, until their key stopped fitting the keyhole 700 years later. They made more clones based off the 10 year old version, or Nessa, but it didn’t work at all. Why didn’t the 10 year old version work? Because the original God was actually 16, she just created the 10 year old version after constant “defilements” and experiments to get her to fit the system to cope with the stress.

I know, I would’ve stabbed him too after that poorly explained little monologue if Phryne didn’t beat me to the punch. She freaks out after realizing she killed him and runs away, Nessa at her heels. Clain, unfortunately, cannot pass through solid objects and stands there in silence before going the long way around. This does not go so well for him, as he runs into a “ghost” of Barrot in the hallway. Clain’s sudden delusion evaporates before he shoots the teeth out of Enri, luckily enough.

That awkward moment where you suddenly go insane

They find Sunda next, who orders Enri and Takami to take the airship out of there. Alabaster is going a tad overboard with the explosions, so it’s practically a suicide mission from hereon in for whoever stays. Sunda and Clain stay behind to tie up some loose ends, running right into the ceremony to unite Nessa and Phryne as the key. Amusingly enough, Dias ends up helping LM big time by distracting the high priestess and then setting off a massive, suicidal explosion.

Hugs: they kill people.

With that massive KA-BOOM, it becomes clear that the Temple is ready to fall apart. That and the yawning chasm that suddenly appears in the room. Sunda provides cover fire as Clain, Phryne and Nessa escape to the elevator. He stays behind and (most likely) dies valiantly. Truthfully, I wasn’t saddened by this. I was more saddened by seeing a sobbing 11 year old try to take charge of an airship on her own.

Floor 5? FUCK THAT, WE’RE GOING TO OUTER SPACE. This bitching elevator goes to a garden outside the stratosphere, for christ’s sake. Since it must take an obscenely long time to get there, Clain uses this as an opportunity to confess his love for Phryne. The three of them have an adorable, touching moment before arriving at the garden and seeing a video of God…who is just a normal 16 year old girl who has a stuffed rabbit named Nessa. Promising to be together forever no matter what, the two girls enter the keyhole and sing that song they sing best. No, not Rebecca black’s “Friday,” although that would certainly be unexpected.

Just as the Temple said, the Fractale system reboots after the keys unite. This would seem like a loss for LM, except that the Temple is gone. No temple means no reboot ever again, unless you find someone else to make another Phryne. The world slowly shifts towards independence, trying their hand at living without the Fractale system little by little. As for Clain, he’s still in his humble abode, but he’s got company. It’s Phryne! No…it’s Nessa? It’s Phryne + Nessa – all bad memories? Who cares, they’re reunited and it’s cute.

*insert ecchi joke here*

Creepy Meme-ish Bonus:

Hey guys, what’s up?

What’s up, you guys?

You guys.

I’M GOD YOU GUYS, WHAT’S UP?

End Thoughts: Fractale’s plot is wrought with inconsistencies, contradictions and really bad story telling. Most of the dialogue here was an utter mess, full of attempts of being symbolic or clever without ever hitting the mark. I honestly had no idea what Barrot was trying to say until I rewatched the scene a few times. Was it even necessary to have this whole clone of a clone thing? Does it make a different whether she’s 10 or 16? <_< Fractale throws in things that are supposed to be deep, as if it suddenly wants us to take it seriously after slinging “ecchi” jokes for 10 episodes before.

That being said, if you ignore that not a lot of things make sense, this was a decent final episode. Some notable moments were Phryne stabbing Barrot at the perfect moment to make you go “OH SNAP” and Dias sacrificing himself to destroy the Temple and the high Priestess. They would be GREAT moments if we had actual character development before now! It makes Dias’s character a bit…odd. After going out of their way to portray Dias as this scheming fox, he goes and nobly takes his life so the world of tomorrow is slightly better. I’m still a bit fuzzy on why he didn’t just kill Phryne at the time, or even earlier in the series, if he was that passionate about the whole plan. The actual ending was pretty alright too. Not too fluffy, not too sad, just Clain living his life with a mentally stunted Phryne. Happy ending for everyone~ (except Sunda)

Fractale did a lot better when it was an unassuming, slice of life type anime that didn’t try to delve too deeply into the Fractale system. Once it did, it became so convoluted that I doubt the writers even know what they’re saying. I would have loved the Fractale system to really be explored properly, but that’s just not gonna happen for THIS anime. I was quite enjoying Fractale for the first few episodes when it didn’t bite off more than it could chew. I really did like Fractale in the beginning! Remember how cute Nessa was just being Nessa? Remember how non-threatening LM was before they gunned down some grannies? My favourite moment in the entire series is either Clain’s yummy food dance or Collin, probably the only really interesting character there was. Collin’s appearance held the ghost of a promise of a really nice story and then… nope, never saw him again. Fractale is like the dad who promises you candy, dangles it in your face, then loses the goddamned candy because he doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing.

The ecchi jokes were the worst. It wasn’t even funny the first time, and then it became some really strange out-of-place running joke. If anything, Phryne was the main pervert, having learned from Barrot.

At least Fractale isn’t the daddy who makes clones of you and molests you so he can stuff a computer program simulating a 10-year old/rabbit in you.

It’s funny how the first thing people mention when they talk about Fractale is how bad the ecchi jokes are. I thought we were safe from it in the last episode, and then of course in like the last MINUTE they did it again.

Finally its over right Overcooled? This was almost good but I lost interest around episode five or so, but had to finish just to see how things went. I started watching again only for Nessa which sucks to say, but I guess it got fun near the end so that saved it.

And yes Clain is far from pervert! It’s everyone else that had their minds in the gutter hahaha.

Fractale was a nice series to follow, cleanly animated and an interesting plot to follow. I’m sad to see it finish now with all the antics between Clain, Nessa and Phryne with the crew but the ending was fitting, even if Clain will be remembered as the biggest ecchi of all time 🙂
Dias didn’t blow up. The High Priestess realised it was Izaya in his hidden form, and then she blew up from the amount of sheer awesome evilness that had glomped her in the hug (You know it’s true. He just hugged her to grab her phone and began stamping on it…before he stamped hard enough to break the temple into little pieces :))
As for Usagi Kami…IT’S KYUBEI! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

I thought Phryne’s stab was lousy…it was more like a poke..You would think there will be a bit more blood on the knife, and maybe Clain’s delusion was just a really bad delusion, cause Barrots wound was on the wrong side lol..

The only redeeming things of this show were Nessa, and the background animation..the characters not so much..

I didn’t like him any more after that scene :/ So all those smirks and seemingly traitorous hints were just to make him a less boring character? >_<
With the way they did things, Fractale should have just been a movie, I agree. It blows my mind when people say they think this deserves 24 episodes.

It tried dealing with a very interesting concept. What would the world be like if no one had to work? If they just hadn’t made a mess with the God and the clones and unorganized symbology and stuck to expanding on human nature…